Power to the People? (Honors)
Did the Romans of the Republic live in a good society? The founding fathers of the United States of America had two classical models available to them when they created a government of, by, and for the people: the direct democracy of Periklean Athens and the representative democracy of republican Rome. By examining the society of republican Rome (509-031 BCE), we can gain new perspectives on how this republic could create a good society, and why the founding fathers might have chosen the Roman model.
The world of republican Rome is distant from ours, both akin and alien. It is familiar because we recognize such aspects of Roman society as governmental structures, traditions of warfare, modes of performance, art and architecture. It is different because Romans lived in a society that incorporated polytheism, slave-owning, misogyny, a non-capitalistic economy, and distinctive definitions of citizenship and law.
We will read and discuss a book that analyzes various aspects of this society. We will also investigate a series of thematic questions and view videos to illustrate these aspects of Roman society as well as the countercultural models provided by the Etruscans and Carthaginians.
This course builds on a variety of PACS1 readings. It builds on readings about "Family and Civil Society," as it examines the families, gender constructions, slavery, economy, and art and architecture of republican Rome. It also builds on readings about "Politics, Law and Citizenship," as it focuses on governmental structures, warfare, law, religion, and empire. Students are likely to come away with a mixed opinion of the "grandeur that was Rome," as well as their own democratic society.
